Tyrolean evening: getting there

The hall and its address

The family's page gives the venue as the Alpensaal an der Messe (Expo) on Ingenieur-Etzel-Straße in Innsbruck, with the entrance near the Expo entrance Messe Süd. It says the family now performs exclusively there, in a traditionally styled hall in the centre of the city. Innsbruck's tourist board names the same hall and says the entrance is around the corner on Ingenieur-Etzel-Straße. Your booking confirmation shows the meeting details, so follow the address on it, and treat older addresses in blogs or maps with caution. The family's chronology calls it a former exhibition hall redesigned in a rustic style.

By tram

Both the family and Innsbruck's tourist board name tram line 1 as the way to the hall from the city centre. The tourist board says the tram takes you there from the city centre in just a few minutes, and adds that the ride is free of charge with a Welcome Card or an Innsbruck Card. The family says the hall can be reached by tram line 1 from the entire city centre. Check the stop name on your tram's display before you get off, and use your confirmation for the start time rather than guessing from the tram timetable.

By train and on foot

The family's page says the hall can also be reached by local ÖBB S-Bahn trains, getting off at the station Messe, and that from the city centre it is a short walk of 5 to 10 minutes. Its location page adds that parking for cars is available in the immediate vicinity, naming a street and a paid garage, and that buses can park at a central bus terminal nearby. If you plan to drive, read that page first, because parking terms belong to the family and the city and can change.

Season and days

The family's page lists daily performances from May to October and Wednesdays and Fridays from November to April, both subject to change, and points to its ticket page for confirmed dates. Use the booking calendar as the authority for your trip: it lists the days that can be booked. If you visit in winter, look at the calendar first and then build the rest of the day around the evening, because there are fewer dates than in summer and the family says the winter schedule can change. In summer the family lists a performance every day, so a weekday is easier to fit in then.

Seats, the entrance and arriving in good time

A reviewer on the ticket page found that guests were walking around confused at the door and wished someone greeted people, checked tickets and explained how things worked. Another, quoted by the family, was accompanied to reserved front-row seats. The family describes a hall with a rustic style and a central location. Arrive a little early, keep your confirmation on your phone or printed, and ask a member of staff if the way in is unclear. None of this changes the programme, which the family publishes as a running order.

How long to allow

The ticket lists a duration of 1.5 to 3 hours. The family describes a programme in two halves with an interval and a finale, and says dinner is served either before the show or during it. If you choose dinner before the show, you arrive earlier than for the show with a drink. The calendar shows the start times for your day, and your confirmation holds the details of the option you booked. Allow time to find the hall on arrival, since one reviewer found the entrance confusing at first. Let the booking calendar and your confirmation, not a guess, set when you leave for the hall.

Language and what you need to follow it

The programme is songs, dances and instrumental pieces, so very little depends on understanding German. A visitor quoted by the family says the evening was a pleasure even without speaking German, and that booking tickets online was easy. The programme closes with popular songs of visiting countries, and one reviewer describes visitors from different countries standing up. The booking page itself can be set to English, and the family's own site offers a welcome page in a long list of languages. Wikipedia notes that Alpine folk music tends to be dialect-heavy, so expect songs in dialect or German.

Children, access and diet

The family says its evenings delight families with children, and its own ticket shop lists rates for children up to 14 and free admission, with no food or drink, for children up to 5, subject to availability on the spot. For a GetYourGuide booking, read the ticket types in the calendar. The ticket is labelled wheelchair accessible. The family's dinner page lists a vegetarian alternative and asks guests with other dietary needs to contact it, so ask before you book dinner if a diet matters. Visitors quoted on the family's page call it a wonderful evening for the whole family.

What to do before and after the show

The hall is a short tram ride or walk from the centre, so the Old Town is easy to pair with it. Wikipedia names the Golden Roof, completed in 1500, and the Court Church, built in 1553 as a memorial to Emperor Maximilian I, as landmarks of the Old Town. The family's page says the hall is in the centre of Innsbruck. Check the opening hours of any sight yourself, since they are set by each place, and keep the evening's start time in your booking calendar as the fixed point. Both the Old Town and the hall are in the centre, as the family describes.

Read next: Innsbruck around the evening

Older write-ups may show another hall

The family's chronology names the Gasthaus Stiftskeller in 1967, then a venue called Sandwirt am Inn, built in 1989, and says the evenings were due to move to the Alpensaal from the 2020 summer season. Its page now says the family performs exclusively at the Alpensaal. Older blog posts, maps and photographs may still show an earlier address, so rely on the address in your confirmation and on the family's current page, and read the guide to the family for the history of the moves. Wikimedia photographs from 2015 therefore show the family before the move.

Read next: The Gundolf family since 1967

Who this isn't for

It does not suit travellers who want a daytime activity, since the evenings run after dark and, in winter, only on some days. It is not an Old Town inn either: the hall sits at the exhibition grounds, a short tram ride or walk from the centre, as the family describes. And if you want to arrive without checking a calendar, remember that the family says its dates are subject to change, so book against a date the booking calendar shows and keep your confirmation with you. It is also not a quiet seated concert, since the ticket page expects you to clap along.